20260823 Psalm 27.1-3 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we are

thankful for your help thus far in the meeting.

We're thankful for all the encouragement that

was had, for the opportunity to worship and praise

you for who you are and what you have done. We're

thankful for this time that you've given us now

to study your word, to receive from you that

which you desire to teach us. We pray that the

word would go forth in the power of the Holy

Spirit, that it would be received in that same

power, and that it would accomplish all of the

perfect will in the hearts of your people. We

pray that indeed we would be submitted to receiving

it, submitting ourselves to the work of the Holy

Spirit. that you would increase our desire to

love and to serve you and to be conformed to

the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask again

for the lost, not only here, but gathered in

amongst your people everywhere where the word

is faithfully preached, that this might be the

day of salvation of some who are yet in their

sin. So glorify yourself in this time to follow,

Father. Help me as I proclaim your word. Let

me be true to it and proclaim only your word.

And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, we're

going to look at Psalm 27 this morning. So, as

I was considering and asking the Lord what would

be a suitable passage to preach on. I came to

Psalm 27 because I was preparing the reading

for the prayer meeting. And lo and behold, this

was impressed upon me to preach from today. So

as I was preparing, I obviously came to realize

that I'm not going to cover this psalm in its

entirety today. So we're going to be looking

at this Psalm 27 in weeks to come. Two, perhaps

three more weeks will be in Psalm 27 on Sunday

morning. So if you want to read and study ahead,

please do. So today we're going to look at the

first three verses of Psalm 27. Now, I should

say this is a psalm that was composed by David

when he was king. He'd gone through all of his

trials and tribulations in the wilderness, and

now he's king. So he's written this psalm in

that perspective. So we'll read then. The Lord

is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom

shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine

enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my

flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host...

Should encamp against me. My heart shall not

fear. The war should rise against me. In this

will I be confident. So we can summarize this

portion of the psalm. As David's declaration

of his total confidence in his God. That's what

he's declaring. He has no confidence in himself.

He realizes all that he is, all that he has,

all that's happened to him is of God. And he's

confident in his God that he's going to continue

that care over us. So if we don't learn anything

else from this psalm, this is what God would

have us to learn at least. That we should have

great confidence in God. We have nothing to fear.

We should serve him. and be faithful to him as

a result of his faithfulness to us. So do you

know you're a Christian? Hopefully you answer

all in the affirmative. Without the assurance

of our salvation in Christ, it's almost impossible

to have any confidence in the Lord. That's the

first question, really, that we have to ask,

and we have to deal with it, the reality of it.

Assurance gives confidence. Without assurance,

no confidence. So know, know for a certainty

that you are God's. Know for a certainty that

God knows you. That he is for you. That he is

no longer against us. But he's taking all care

of us. He has made that pledge to us. If he does

not care for us, he's violated his own word.

Confidence. We can have utter, total confidence

in God. So in the particular then, look at a

few things. He says, the Lord is my light. Now

in all three of these, we should note that it's

not saying that the Lord gives light. It says

the Lord is light. So that is David's declaration.

In other words, there's no light anywhere else.

If you don't know the Lord, you don't have any

light. You're in the shadow lands. That's what

the world lives in. That's what they travel through.

That's what we all traveled through before we

were converted. The shadow lands. No certainty.

No confidence. All is just a murky puzzle. Make

sure that you take the right step. So on and

so forth. We don't need to go into that. But

with the Lord there is light. There is nothing

but light. Light does not exist with darkness.

Right? You can't have both. So again as Some

Christians, perhaps, and surely the world, likes

to have this gray area. Everything's gray. No

certainty, no confidence. We just can't know

for sure. We hope this is that way and so on

and so forth. We don't know for sure about the

Genesis account. It's probably just a big poetic

description. We don't know. It's not important.

That's a secondary issue. There's all kinds of

secondary issues to those people that are in

the gray. Everything is. They have no certainty.

We're in the light. God is light. He would have

us to walk in his light. According to his way.

His light. Surely you can remember before you

were converted. What a difference has come over

you since you've been converted. You love the

light. It's just like flipping a switch when

you go into a dark room. Boom, it's light. Darkness

vanishes away. It's gone. And we bask in the

light. If you're up early enough to see the sunrise,

it's the same thing. It's pitch black out there.

You can't see anything. The sun begins to rise

and the darkness begins to fade. Soon it's just

a glorious light of the glorious sun. That's

all of God. God is light. The primary thing that

I think is describing here is the light of the

Holy Spirit in regeneration. That's the light

of God. That's the very beginning of God's work

in us. The regenerating light of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe we did read the Word before we were converted.

Most of my kids read the Word before they were

converted. I remember my mother, she used to

read the Word. And my mother testified, I finally

understand what I've read. I finally could read

the Bible with understanding, with light. That

came from God. It wasn't her own understanding.

She didn't all of a sudden gain brain power.

She gained light power from the gift of the Holy

Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives light. And things

begin to brighten up. Things begin to change.

We see God in all the places where we never even

knew he existed. We now know that he created

all that there is, and not only did he create

it, but he sustained it all. We know of a certainty

that Adam was a historical man. Just as historical

as Christ was. And if Adam wasn't historical,

then neither was Jesus. Get that from the New

Testament. But we start to learn. We start to

grow. We start to appreciate. And then, all of

a sudden, somebody shares the gospel with us.

Or maybe we read it in our Bibles. And now, boom!

We've got glorious light. We've got so much light

that we can hardly stand it. He goes on, the

Lord is my salvation. Notice, it's my salvation.

He's declaring himself a saved man. Again, it's

always, we always have to emphasize this. Almost

everybody, or maybe not almost anybody anymore,

but used to be everybody would say Christ is

a savior. A lot of you have given it a thought.

You think that they were saved? Of course not.

They were just repeating a phrase that they'd

heard or learned. We declare that he is my Savior.

Again, confidence. Confidence in the Lord. The

gift of the Holy Spirit has given us light. Now,

we exercise the gift of faith in embracing Christ

Jesus as our Lord. The Lord is my salvation.

Again, it's all of the Lord. There's nothing

in it but the Lord. You don't merit a thing.

What you do merit is damnation. What? That's

what we merit. That's the only thing we could

ever merit. All these merit preachers, forget

it. It's nothing but grace. It's all of grace.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has saved

us. I always find it remarkable when I read the

Psalms or that, that David's living on promises.

He's living on promises. He's making these declarations

based on promise. And he's just as sure as if

it has already happened. We don't live on promises

anymore. We live in the reality, the fulfillment

of the promises. How much more confidence should

we have than the Old Testament saints? We live

in the reality of the new era of the Spirit.

Christ has accomplished His work. He's finished

it. We know all about Him. He's given us a beautiful

revelation. Jake made some comment this morning

when we were talking about somebody would like

to hear from God. Somebody told him that. And

of course, immediately he said, well, you have.

It's right here. You've heard from him. And you

continue to hear from him. It is a letter to

you and me. The New Testament epistles. They're

personal. They're direct. They're the word of

God to his children, his believers. The Lord

is our salvation. It's a glorious declaration.

One that we should never get tired of repeating,

telling about, bearing witness. We're all going

to have opportunity coming up here next month.

To tell people about what all God has done in

our lives. Most of them won't want to hear it,

but it doesn't matter. They should hear it. They

need to hear it. We should go out in confidence.

Believing the Lord has prepared somebody to hear

it. Again, where is our confidence in evangelization?

It's our confidence in the Lord. We can't do

anything but proclaim the word. God has to work.

He has to make it effectual in people's lives.

And we should have that confidence that he will.

Whether there's any kind of instant response

or whether it takes two, three weeks, two, three

years later, God uses that word that was given

to that person to bring him to himself. Confidence.

There's no such thing as a vain or empty work.

Remember, we saw that. All the work that is done

for Christ is glorious to Him. It's not a waste

of time. It's not a waste of effort. It's glorious.

He loves to see His people responding to His

love. With love for each other and love for the

world. Of course, love to Him. So David declares,

the Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation.

And he says, whom shall I fear? There is no other

power on earth or in the heavens that can nullify

God's work in his people. It's finished. It's

done in us. There's no losing our salvation,

in other words. When God saves us, It's just

as if we were already in glory. Again, that's

our confidence. That's our surety. That's what

God has promised. Who should we be afraid of?

There's nothing anyone can do to us. You say,

well, they could kill me. Yeah, they just punched

your ticket to heaven a little sooner than you

expected. That's all. There's no reason for fear.

Love casts out fear. Isn't that what it says?

That's exactly what it says. Do you love the

Lord? Who are you afraid of? Are you really afraid

to share the gospel? I hear that sometimes. Are

you really afraid to do that? How is that possible?

It's impossible for a Christian to be afraid

of sharing the gospel. Well, it happens anyway,

doesn't it? Even though it is impossible. Do

you see that? Do you see the utter fallacy in

that? I'm admitting that when I first went out

to share the gospel, I was afraid. Why was I

afraid? I had nothing to fear. What could that

man do? Nothing. There's been plenty of times

when we were sharing the gospel and preaching

in public where I got a little afraid still.

Somebody gets right up in your face and you think

you're about to get decked. But that doesn't

deter. That doesn't deter us from what we have

decided and dedicated ourselves to do. Who shall

I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life.

Again, the Lord doesn't give the strength. He

is the strength. These are God's attributes.

Strength. Savior. Light. This is God. God of

very God is in us. I mean, is that a ho -hum?

Does that mean nothing to us? If you consider

that, if you consider the truth that through

the Holy Spirit, the Godhead is living and dwelling

us, each of us as individuals, that's what the

scriptures say. It says that same resurrection

power that God raised Christ from the dead is

in us. That's what it says. The Lord is our strength.

We have no strength. As a matter of fact, if

we don't know how weak we are, we have no strength.

We don't act in our own strength. If we have

self -confidence, then we forget it. You don't

have any strength. Until you fall at the feet

of the Lord Jesus Christ confessing your need

in this situation, you don't have it. You don't

have strength. But as soon as you do, you've

got all the strength that you need. No one can

stand in front of you. The Lord is our strength.

The beautiful Father, the Father God, is our

strength. The God of all the earth, all the heavens,

all the universe, is ours. Think on these things,

would you please? Would you meditate on these

things? Would you allow them to have some effect

upon your life? That's what I'm asking. That's

what I'm exhorting. That's what I'm encouraging

you to do. You want confidence? Think on these

things. Try to look at your life thus far. And

actually maybe pick out two, three, four, maybe

a dozen times that the Lord has come to your

aid. A couple times that the Lord showed you

something. Shed light on a subject. And all of

a sudden, all of the fogginess and doubt was

just gone. And there he was in all of his beauty.

And you could rejoice in what he taught you.

Think on these things. If we're Christians, we

have these experiences. We have experienced God.

Everybody in his own way. And it may just be

beginning. You may just be beginning to experience

God. Have you ever been reading a word and all

of a sudden it just opens up to you? Yeah, I

see that. Well, hopefully you can answer some

of these things in the affirmative. Because if

you want confidence in God, that's what you need

to do. You need to prove Him is the way God puts

it. Prove me in these things. I'm willing for

you to prove me. When you prove God, your faith

will grow. You'll just... exponentially grow

in your love, devotion, and faith to God because

he will prove his word to you. To you as an individual.

So I don't know if David knew about it here,

but he had the Trinity right here. The Spirit,

the Savior, and God Almighty. All of them right

there in that one verse. Hopefully you can see

that. Hopefully you can see that everything that

we are is because of God. Everything that has

happened to us is because of God. And everything

that has happened to us has been good because

of God. Because He's on our side. That's what

the Word says. So, He gives two examples here.

In verse 2, as I guess we've already talked about,

he says, When the wicked, even mine enemies and

my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they

stumbled and fell. So he's recounting history

there. He has proved God. God has been true to

his word. He had his confidence in God, and he

was depending on God and God's strength, and

all of his enemies failed. They couldn't prevent

him from becoming king, what he's declaring.

So, as I think we've said on several different

occasions already, when we as New Testament Christians,

the era of the Holy Spirit, when we see this

word enemies in these Psalms, We should think

of sin. Sin is our enemy. And of course the devil

and his minions are also our enemy. Those are

our enemies. We shouldn't think of people. When

people can come against us, people can try to

harm us. That's all true. But normally it's because

of sin in them or they're under the influence

of the devil. So when you see this word enemies

in our context, that's how we should view it.

So sin, I'm saying, has no power over us. Sin

is helpless before us. Where does sin get its

power from? We give it to him. We give in. We

say, I can't resist or whatever. I'm tired of

striving. Whatever the case may be, the sin cannot

win. When we are conscious of our service, our

position, our place in the Lord. We never have

to sin. The Bible promises when sin comes our

way that God will make a way to escape it. That's

not a joke. That's just the truth. So you don't

have to give in to your enemy. So, again, if

we look at our lives, hopefully we can see some

type of progress made over sin. Some kind of

victories that we've achieved over sin, hopefully.

If we're Christians, I'm sure that we can. Paul,

just like Paul says, I'm not what I used to be.

And I am what I am by the grace of God. That's

what we should all be able to say. I'm not what

I want to be, but I'm not what I was. Words to

that effect. There's growth happening. There's

progress being made. We're taking on the image

of our Father, which is what the normal thing

is for anybody, for physical children and for

God's children. We should all be taking on our

Father's image, the glory of Christ. And then

lastly here, he's not only expressing his past

experiences, but he's looking to the future.

And he says, though a host should encamp us against

me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should

rise against me, in this will I be confident.

In this, in the Lord, in all that he's done,

in all that he's already done. This is my confidence.

No matter what comes up against me, this is my

confidence. Some of you have not experienced

much conflict or anything else in your life yet.

Perhaps you never will. I don't know. But hopefully

you've made up your mind now that regardless

of what happens to you, you are going to serve

the Lord. You are not turning your back. You

are not giving in to the world. You are not going

to try to escape through sinful measures, whatever

the problem is. That's what he's saying here.

My confidence is unshakable. If the whole countries

around me come to war, I'm going to serve the

Lord. That's our attitude. That's our desire.

We want to glorify God regardless of what happens

to us. And we don't make plans. trying to figure

out a way to be more pleasing in anybody's sight

but who? The Lord. That's who we're seeking to

make plans for so that we're enabled to please

Him more and more and more. That's confidence.

That's how we should live. i can't i don't know

i quoted this i don't know if this is the same

quote that i've used before or if this is a different

quote it's almost it's very similar but spurgeon

quotes this in relation to this sign and he's

talking about warriors or fearful people not

lawyers warriors fearful people and so he says

the fearful or worrisome Feel 1 ,000 deaths in

fearing one. Did you get it? All worry, anxiety,

fearfulness does is adds stress and dread and

death and nothing pleasant in our lives. Love

casts out fear. So have confidence in the Lord.

Being convinced of his love for you is really

what we're saying. Do you really believe God

loves you? That he's going to keep you from all

harm? That his plan is the best plan? Do you

believe that? Well, live accordingly then. And

show that you believe it by how we live. Amen.